Bournemouth Diabetes & Endocrine

[pottersusan]

Have just discovered this site via Diabetes UK.

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

It's a web based course, created by Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, to teach you about counting carbs. Being new to all of this, from what I've done so far, it looks really helpful.

 

[Northerner]

Yes, a lot of us are familiar with this site Susan, and often recommend it to those who want to learn to carb count but can't get on a course 🙂 I did it myself a couple of years ago and found it very good.

 

[Copepod]

It is a very helpful website and always worth an extra push, Susan! 🙂

 

[pottersusan]

Another thing that i don't understand, is why no one 'official' (if you know what I mean) has mentioned carb counting to me. I feel that I haven't been told anything like the whole story.
I'm having a jolly day keeping a record of my blood sugar more or less every hour and a bit when I eat and injecting what seems appropriate - rather than sticking to the 3 novorapid injections. In the last hour and a quarter my blood sugar has dropped by 6.2 and all I've been doing is research on the internet. What I ate that hour 1/4 ago presumably didn't have enough carbs in it. Is that right?
The 'experts' don't seem to be able to sort me out - so it's up to me, with help from you folk out there. I suspect that the knowledge of diabetes out there is immense. You don't need lots of letters after your name to be an expert! Having said that, I'm going to talk to my dr tomorrow about being referred to Southampton where I had my op. I think the diabetes consultant there might have more experience than my current one.
How do they expect me to manage my diabetes, with only part of the necessary information?
As someone on the forum says in their signature ( and I want to shout from the rooftops!)
I am diabetic, not daft.

 

[Copepod]

I can't understand why no-one has mentioned carb counting to you, either? Not even your Macmillan dietician?

But keep asking, as eventually it may get you the result you need, and may also, in the much longer term, help people diagnosed after you, by putting carb counting nearer the front of the minds of those dealing with you and them. 🙂

While DAFNE is great for "simple type 1 diabetes" (if there is such a thing), it's not the complete answer for anyone, and even less likely to be the solution for someone like you with "complex type 1 diabetes" - please note that "simple" and "complex" are not official terms!

 

[Northerner]

Another thing that i don't understand, is why no one 'official' (if you know what I mean) has mentioned carb counting to me. I feel that I haven't been told anything like the whole story.
I'm having a jolly day keeping a record of my blood sugar more or less every hour and a bit when I eat and injecting what seems appropriate - rather than sticking to the 3 novorapid injections. In the last hour and a quarter my blood sugar has dropped by 6.2 and all I've been doing is research on the internet. What I ate that hour 1/4 ago presumably didn't have enough carbs in it. Is that right?
The 'experts' don't seem to be able to sort me out - so it's up to me, with help from you folk out there. I suspect that the knowledge of diabetes out there is immense. You don't need lots of letters after your name to be an expert! Having said that, I'm going to talk to my dr tomorrow about being referred to Southampton where I had my op. I think the diabetes consultant there might have more experience than my current one.
How do they expect me to manage my diabetes, with only part of the necessary information?
As someone on the forum says in their signature ( and I want to shout from the rooftops!)
I am diabetic, not daft.

If you are dosing small doses every hour or so then it will be almost impossible to avoid 'stacking' of insulin. This is when the insulin you took for a previous meal is still active when you take the next dose, and so on. Pumps can deal with this far more effectively than injections as they can calculate 'insulin on board' very well and you just press a button to give the dose, so I still think this must be a much better option for you. Remember also that your food is digesting at different rates so it's hard to match that to any insulin peaks. Again, I would have thought (but don't know as I don't pump) that some sort of increased basal rate would work better for you - impossible on injections.

It might be an idea to speak to the diabetes consultant at Southampton initially, but actually you would be better asking for a referral to Bournemouth (as in the carb counting course you posted about) as they are very pro-pump, and I know for a fact that Southampton are not.

 

[MeanMom]

If you are dosing small doses every hour or so then it will be almost impossible to avoid 'stacking' of insulin. This is when the insulin you took for a previous meal is still active when you take the next dose, and so on. Pumps can deal with this far more effectively than injections as they can calculate 'insulin on board' very well and you just press a button to give the dose, so I still think this must be a much better option for you. Remember also that your food is digesting at different rates so it's hard to match that to any insulin peaks. Again, I would have thought (but don't know as I don't pump) that some sort of increased basal rate would work better for you - impossible on injections.

It might be an idea to speak to the diabetes consultant at Southampton initially, but actually you would be better asking for a referral to Bournemouth (as in the carb counting course you posted about) as they are very pro-pump, and I know for a fact that Southampton are not.

Didn't know that about Bournemouth, Northener, thanks for info. We go to Poole which is elegedly the same team and they have never even mentioned that pumps exist.

I've done that bdec course online (DAFNE not avaiable/suitable for kids) and it is a good 'basic training' but how suitable it would be for you, Sue, I don't know. Find it terrible, but not surprising, that you have been left to work all this out by yourself

Watch out for that insulin stacking! Xx

 

[pottersusan]

If you are dosing small doses every hour or so then it will be almost impossible to avoid 'stacking' of insulin. This is when the insulin you took for a previous meal is still active when you take the next dose, and so on. Pumps can deal with this far more effectively than injections as they can calculate 'insulin on board' very well and you just press a button to give the dose, so I still think this must be a much better option for you. Remember also that your food is digesting at different rates so it's hard to match that to any insulin peaks. Again, I would have thought (but don't know as I don't pump) that some sort of increased basal rate would work better for you - impossible on injections.

It might be an idea to speak to the diabetes consultant at Southampton initially, but actually you would be better asking for a referral to Bournemouth (as in the carb counting course you posted about) as they are very pro-pump, and I know for a fact that Southampton are not.

Thank you for that info. My learning curve continues!

 

[pottersusan]

Didn't know that about Bournemouth, Northener, thanks for info. We go to Poole which is elegedly the same team and they have never even mentioned that pumps exist.

I've done that bdec course online (DAFNE not avaiable/suitable for kids) and it is a good 'basic training' but how suitable it would be for you, Sue, I don't know. Find it terrible, but not surprising, that you have been left to work all this out by yourself

Watch out for that insulin stacking! Xx

Having had a conversation with a dietitian about carbs, yesterday, they seem to think that I'm different!!! They think that GI is part of the equation as well as carbs and they reallly don't know about how I'm absorbing what. Basically I don't think they've got a clue!

I bumped into a diabetic yesterday, who I didn't know from Adam, and the conversation somehow turned to diabetes (it's not that I'm obsessed or anything!) . He had the same consultant as me, in the past, and thought he was past his sell by date. I'm glad it's not just me! 🙄